


missing days

by amuk



Series: Clearing Skies [6]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Families of Choice, Family, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Introspection, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-30 22:30:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6444589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amuk/pseuds/amuk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the second time, their home was destroyed. They couldn't take a third. --Tifa, Cloud, Aerith, Barret</p>
            </blockquote>





	missing days

**Author's Note:**

> So, I’m just writing a bunch of scenes missing from the game as I went through it.

 

1.  **Friends**

 

“Oh, that’s one of my flowers,” Aerith said, surprised as she leaned forward to inspect the flower in Tifa’s pack.

 

Tifa flushed a dark red. Cloud rarely gave her anything and she couldn’t leave it behind. After pinning it to her pack, she’d forgotten about it.

 

“I…” Tifa swallowed hard, there had to be a way out of this. If only Barret had found it instead.

 

“I remember selling some to Cloud.” Aerith glanced at Tifa with a sly grin on her face. “So they were for you?”

 

“And-and Marlene too,” Tifa replied, flustered. That grin promised endless teasing.

 

“Is that so?” Aerith frowned, disappointed. “Too bad.”

 

Quickly, Tifa changed the topic before Aerith could probe any further. “You know where to find flowers?”

 

“Sort of.” Aerith smiled brightly, remembering her flowers and the church. Getting up, she dusted her skirt. “Actually, I grow them.”

 

Tifa stared, amazed. She knew firsthand how impossible the task was. “Wow, I tried it a few times, but they kept dying.”

 

“Well, you can’t grow them everywhere and it is hard, but if you know the right places…” Aerith’s voice trailed up, before she leaned closer to Tifa, as though telling a secret. “Want me to show it to you later?”

…

…

…

…

  1. **Pretty Woman**



 

“He looked surprisingly good in that dress,” Tifa commented, her voice echoing softly in the sewer tunnels. As they walked, she looked behind her every few minutes—as rear guard, she couldn’t let any monsters slip by her.

 

“I know, I didn’t think it would work as well as it did,” Aerith replied, grinning mischievously.

 

Tifa glanced in front of her but the coast was clear. Luckily for him, Cloud was far ahead of them, scouting the route. He had been embarrassed enough when she saw him in the dress. Hearing this would have made his ears beet red.

 

Picking her way through the sludge, Tifa shook her head at the memory. “Though, those heels…”

 

Aerith giggled. “He didn’t get the hang of it before we went.”

 

“I thought so, he almost tumbled down the stairs.” Tifa laughed. “I thought he’d just roll all the way down.”

 

Aerith shook her head sadly, wiping imaginary tears from her eyes. “All the beauty but none of the grace. Just why the Don picked him over us, I will never know.”

 

“It must have been his good looks. You know men…” Tifa drawled.

 

Ahead of them, she could spot their friend making his way back to them. “You okay?” Cloud called out, jogging to them. “You’re walking slowly.”

 

“We’re just admiring a great lady,” Aerith replied with a wink.

 

Tifa snorted.

…

…

…

…

….

  1. **Crater**



 “You ok?” Barret asked, concerned as Tifa fell to her knees. She could barely hear him. A high-pitched keening drowned out everything else, the remnants of the explosion they just barely escaped.

 

Shaking her head, she could only stare at the sight in front of her. Sector 3 was a fiery crater, a mess of rubble and smoke. She could smell it, the stench of charred bodies, the scent of death.

 

It was happening again.

 

Just like five years ago, she was losing everything again. Losing everyone again.

 

For the second time, her home was destroyed.

 

She didn’t think she could take a third.

…

…

…

…

…

  1. **Fire**



 

The fires didn’t stop, not for the rest of the night. Black pillars rose from the ground, smoke covering what little sky they had. Even though he could see that Marlene was safe, Barret couldn’t stop shaking.

 

Another hometown was lost thanks to Shinra. Another group of friends died, fighting for his cause. For his ideas.

 

He shouldn’t have survived.  Not again, not when Jesse or someone else could have lived. There were only so many times he could make the same mistakes.

 

At least he wasn’t alone this time. He looked at Cloud, at Tifa, and gritted his teeth.

 

There would be no third time. He damn sure would make sure of it with his own hands.

…

…

…

…

…

  1. **goodnight**



“Goodnight, Marlene,” Barret whispered, his voice low so the others wouldn’t hear. The wilderness was surprisingly quiet compared to the city.  

 

Above him, he could see a blanket of stars. Marlene would have loved to see that—it was hard to see even a piece of the sky in Midgar, let alone all of this.

 

This world was so vast. Just how far would he go from home? It could be months before he saw Marlene again. Maybe years.

 

“I love you.”

 

It would be a long time before he could hear a reply.

…

…

…

…

…

  1. **Hometowns**



 

“So you lost your hometown too?” Tifa asked, sitting next to Barret. It was surprising, really, to find out that for all the time she was with Barret, she never really knew him.

 

Then again, he hadn’t known her either.

 

“Yeah,” Barret stared into the fire, remembering. “Only Marlene and I survived.”

 

His tone made it clear that he didn’t want to discuss it.

 

Tifa swallowed, looking into the fire herself. It was all too easy to see the fires from that day again. She didn’t want to remember.

 

She couldn’t forget.

 

“Yeah, same here.”

…

…

…

…

…

  1. **fire**



Some nights, she dreamed of fire.  The heat from the flames, the smoke in the air, she could still feel it all. It coated her lungs a dark black of despair.

 

In the distance, Zack yelled. A soldier caught her as she fell—she could have sworn he reminded her of someone, but she had been too weak to remember.

 

As she dreamed, as she remembered, she unconsciously rubbed the scars on her back.

 

She would never be able to forget that night no matter how hard she tried.

…

…

…

…

…

  1. **Swings**



“These swings…” Tifa’s voice trailed off as she approached the broken playground. She’d taken Marlene here to play, on the slow days when they weren’t planning a mission.

 

Barret couldn’t speak, he just stood frozen in the middle. Next to him was the see-saw that he and Marlene used to play on, before he had broken it. And next to that was the home tree, the tree Marlene was supposed to run to if they ever got separated.

 

Tifa turned around, staring at all these places, at all these things that were once the makings of a home.

 

Now they were nothing more than rubble.

…

…

…

…

…

  1. **President**



“He’s dead,” someone said. It might be her, she wasn’t sure. Her eyes were trained on the dead president, on his slowly cooling body.

 

He caused so much misery, so many problems, and now he was dead. She should be more shocked, she knew. A little sad or even worried about who did this.

 

Instead, Tifa swallowed. Her comrades were avenged and all she could feel was a sick satisfaction.

…

…

…

…

…

  1. **Goodbye**



“Worried?” Aerith asked, suddenly sitting next to Barret. It was still his turn to keep watch and he looked at the girl next to him surprise.

 

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked, tossing another log into the fire.

 

“Not yet,” Aerith replied easily. He wasn’t sure what to make of this teasing slip of a girl. Only there were a lot of battles ahead of them and he wasn’t sure if she could handle it. “So, are you worried?”

 

“Of what?” Barret scoffed, not understanding the point of the question. Sure, they had no idea where they were going or what to do next, but those were short term things. He’d figure something out, he always had, and then they’ll destroy Shinra.

 

“For your daughter.” Aerith looked at him now, as though she saw right through him.

 

He frowned, remembering how they had parted. His daughter had been so small in his arms, so fragile. His voice was clipped, thick with memories as he replied, “...a little.”

 

Aerith hummed, understanding. She sounded a little wistful as she consoled him. “She’s safe with my mom.”

 

“I know...I just...I wish I could have said goodbye to her.” Barret sighed.

 

“Yeah…” Aerith grew quiet, probably thinking of her mother. Her voice was low and he strained to hear it when she replied, “Yeah, me too.”


End file.
